The University of Warwick will host the UK’s Higher Education Technicians Summit 2017, in partnership with Midlands Innovation and the Science Council. The summit promotes a professional identity for technical staff in higher education and beyond.

Warwick’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart Croft will open the event, with speakers including Professor Dame Carol Robinson (Doctor Lee’s Professor at the University of Oxford), Sir Paul Nurse (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Chief Executive and Director of the Francis Crick Institute) and Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya (Chairman and founder of the Warwick Manufacturing Group). Workshop sessions will focus on professional development and networking opportunities with a range of “hot topics”.

The Higher Education Technicians Summit will once again publicly celebrate the skills, talent and experience of technicians across the UK through the “Papin Prizes”, a series of awards to be made to technicians who have demonstrated excellence. Nominations can be made online – the deadline is Friday 31 March.

Registration for the event is free and includes lunch. For more information and to register, visit the University of Warwick website. Travel directions to the University can be found online.

The University of Nottingham hosted the inaugural Higher Education Technicians Summit in 2015 – take a look at our blog and Storify of the day for highlights, including keynote speeches from Dr Helen Sharman OBE, the first Briton in space, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya and Professor Sir David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor.